Chapter 58 Even Powerful Magic Fears the Bayonet

Although Morin’s tactic of using his full map vision to constantly penetrate and harass the enemy failed to inflict a devastating blow, it successfully delayed the advance of several hundred enemy troops.

The Britannians did not even know how many enemies were truly around them.

They were forced to halt their advance, divert a portion of their forces to protect and evacuate the wounded, and send another portion of soldiers to conduct a sweep search in the rear, trying to flush out this damned ‘rat squad.’

This bought precious time for the main body of the 3rd Platoon to retreat.

However, as the Britannians diverted more troops to support this area, Morin and his small detachment were gradually being drawn into a large net.

At this point, Morin knew that the penetration and harassment had to end.

On the other side, Platoon Sergeant Klaus took a headcount after leading the main force to safely retreat to the third line of defense.

The 3rd Platoon, which had been at full strength with two extra infantry squads, was now down to only 36 men.

He was unsure how many men Morin had taken with him, but he estimated it wouldn’t be many. The Platoon Leader’s prolonged absence made the Platoon Sergeant restless.

“No, I still have to go and meet up with the Platoon Leader…”

After struggling with the decision for a moment, he ordered the remaining soldiers to hold the position, and he personally led a squad of soldiers to quietly move toward the direction where Morin and his men were fighting a guerrilla war.

At this moment, Morin was leading his remaining soldiers in ambush near the bodies and wounded of the last enemy unit they had attacked.

He planned to use the same trick again, using these bodies as bait to launch a final ‘siege-and-support’ ambush.

After this last ambush, he could also use the gap that would be torn open here to break out.

Through the system map, he could see a sizable enemy search team approaching their location.

“Prepare for battle! Wait until they get closer before firing!”

Morin lowered his voice and issued the command to the soldiers around him, while also pulling back the bolt of his rifle to check the chamber.

Everyone gripped their weapons tightly, their heartbeats involuntarily accelerating.

However, just as the enemy was about to enter the ambush zone, Morin noticed something was off about this enemy group.

Among the ordinary Britannian soldiers, there were clearly two people wearing mage robes, as well as two exceptionally tall, heavily armored soldiers.

And on the system map, the markers for the two mages clearly displayed the words: 【High-Level Mage Apprentice】.

“Have they already started mixing these elite units in?”

The appearance of the mages introduced a variable into his ambush.

He did not know what abilities these Apprentice Mages possessed, but intuition and experience told him not to fight an ambush if he wasn’t confident.

But just as Morin was about to order everyone to retreat, he saw the two Apprentice Mages, protected by the soldiers, stop near the wounded and the corpses, and suddenly raise their hands to perform a brief spell directed at the buildings on both sides of the street.

The Apprentice Mage facing Morin’s side instantly showed a horrified expression.

After he cast [Life Sense], over twenty clear life signatures suddenly appeared densely packed inside the seemingly empty, dilapidated building ahead!

“This is bad—an ambush! Lots of people!”

He yelled in terror.

Morin, who had been secretly observing outside, realized his intentions were exposed the moment he noticed the change in the Apprentice Mage’s expression and his panicked shouting.

Without any further hesitation, he rolled to his feet and immediately raised his rifle and pulled the trigger.

“Bang!”

The Saxon soldiers ambushed inside the building also took Morin’s gunshot as a signal, instantly unleashing every bit of firepower they had onto the outside.

On the street, the startled Britannian soldiers were instantly mown down in large numbers.

However, the two Apprentice Mages and the two heavy armor soldiers survived, protected by the Mage’s Armor and their thick, heavy armor.

“They’re in that building! Charge in and kill them!”

The surviving Apprentice Mage screamed in shock and fury, ordering the remaining soldiers to charge the building where Morin and his men were located.

The soldiers of the Northumberland Musket Regiment, at this moment, displayed their organization and morale as an elite force.

Although they had just suffered a heavy blow, under the command of the officers and mages, they quickly reorganized their formation and, led by the two heavy armor soldiers, charged head-on into the interior.

And just then, another small squad, drawn by the sound of gunfire, quietly crept up to the rear of this Britannian unit.

Leading the team was Platoon Sergeant Klaus.

“The Britannians are attacking that building. There must be our comrades inside,” a Squad Leader next to him said.

“Almost all other friendly forces have withdrawn. The only ones still engaging the enemy in this position must be the Platoon Leader and his men.”

Klaus looked at the flickering gunfire inside the building and the charging enemies outside, immediately grasping the situation.

“Prepare to attack! Give these Britannians a hard hit from the rear!”

Inside the building, Morin roared upon seeing the enemy close in:

“Grenades!”

Several grenadiers immediately pulled the pins and threw the few remaining grenades they had left from the second-floor windows—3 of them.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Three consecutive grenades exploded amidst the charging Britannian soldiers.

The scorching blast wave and flying shrapnel once again took down many men.

The two heavy armor soldiers who were charging at the very front were also staggered by the shockwave of the explosion, feeling as though their bodies were numb.

But they relied on astonishing willpower and their sturdy, enchanted armor to charge straight to the building’s doorway.

“Bang!”

One heavy armor soldier kicked open the crumbling door, and with the infantry behind him, surged inside.

However, the moment they rushed into the building, they immediately regretted it.

They regretted listening to the orders of the two Apprentice Mages.

Because their weapons were not sword-and-shield, but two-handed greatswords…

The narrow indoor space prevented them from effectively wielding the huge greatswords they used to slaughter ordinary infantry.

But the two reacted quickly, instantly reversing their greatswords, grasping the unsharpened blade and hilt with separate hands, and using the crossguard and pommel for close-quarters strikes.

Meanwhile, a few of the best-shooting Saxon soldiers hid behind corners and furniture, constantly firing at the two heavy armor soldiers’ helmets, sparks flying everywhere, keeping their heads ringing.

The others fired frantically at the ordinary soldiers following behind.

When the fighting reached this stage, there was no such thing as ‘tactics’ anymore.

There was only primal slaughter from both sides.

Both sides were killing with bloodshot eyes.

Shouts, gunshots, and screams interwove and echoed in the confined space.

“Two more grenades!”

Corporal Bowman, who had retreated to the staircase to reload, roared. Immediately, two more grenades were tossed over.

The violent explosion nearly stunned the Saxon soldiers on the first floor as well.

After the explosions subsided, there wasn’t a single Britannian soldier left standing in the room.

The two heavy armor soldiers, although still alive, were staggering, their armor riddled with bullet holes and dents.

“Kill them!”

Several Saxon soldiers screamed, rushing out from behind cover.

Their rifles were out of bullets. With no time to dig out new clips from their pouches, they immediately fixed bayonets.

In a previous combat summary meeting, a soldier who survived a melee had shared with others the scene of Morin using a bayonet to take down a heavy armor soldier.

So now, these Saxon soldiers frantically stabbed their bayonets at the heavy armor soldiers’ vulnerable spots—the armpits and neck—that the armor did not protect.

After barely managing to knock down a few charging Saxon soldiers with the pommels of their greatswords, the two brave heavy armor soldiers finally exhausted their last bit of strength and crashed to the ground.

“Got them!”

But before the surviving Saxon soldiers could celebrate, two fireballs the size of human heads suddenly whizzed through the windows.

“Watch out!”

Morin only managed to let out a warning.

The next second, the fireballs detonated violently in the center of the room.

The fierce explosion affected the entire first floor.

The terrifying high temperature and shockwave instantly engulfed everything, even collapsing a corner of the second floor.

Morin only saw the icons of the two infantry squads under his command on the first floor instantly turn gray on the system map.

The twelve soldiers fighting on the first floor were gone, just like that.

If Corporal Bowman hadn’t coincidentally retreated to the staircase landing, he would likely have been killed along with those soldiers.

At this moment, Morin’s force, including himself, was down to eighteen men.

Outside the window, the two Apprentice Mages were preparing to cast spells again to completely eliminate the enemies in the building.

But just then, dense gunfire erupted behind them.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Klaus led his squad, having circled around and launched a surprise attack on the rear of the Britannian unit.

Several Britannian soldiers who were covering the mages immediately fell to the ground.

This sudden turn of events horrified the two Apprentice Mages.

They looked back frantically, seeing another squad of Saxon soldiers emerge from the ruins, immediately believing they were being counter-encircled.

The two Apprentice Mages frantically tried to cast [Mage’s Armor] on themselves, only to realize that the quantity prepared for the day of this life-saving spell had already been completely used up.

Having failed to plan their spell usage appropriately for street fighting, they realized at this moment that most of the spells prepared for the day had been used up in the previous fighting.

They deeply regretted why they had used their precious remaining spells to take revenge on the surrendered enemies in another building earlier in the fight.

That way, their spell slots wouldn’t be left with only a few cantrips like [Mage Hand]…

Fear immediately seized their hearts, and their tutor’s words before the battle echoed in their ears.

“Retreat! Retreat quickly!”

They made a snap decision, intending to flee without looking back, covered by the remaining few soldiers.

Morin inside the building did not know that the two Apprentice Mages had used up their prepared spells for the day, but he could confirm through the map that there were no enemy friendly forces nearby.

And having been driven into a ‘frenzy’ during the continuous street fighting, he knew this might be their only chance.

If these two mobile artillery platforms were allowed to escape, they would undoubtedly cause even more trouble for his comrades later.

“Don’t let them escape!”

Morin’s eyes were bloodshot. He charged straight down the slope formed by the collapsed corner of the second floor.

As he led his men out of the building, he shouted loudly in Saxon toward Klaus’s direction: “Watch for friendly fire! Watch for friendly fire!”

Klaus heard Morin’s voice and immediately understood the Platoon Leader’s intention.

“Everyone be careful when shooting! Follow up and cover the Platoon Leader and his men!”

The two small teams, one following the other, pursued the fleeing enemies.

A grenadier running alongside Morin desperately threw his last grenade.

The grenade traveled in a perfect parabola through the air, landing exactly behind the group of enemies and detonating.

“Boom!”

The huge explosion threw them into disarray.

Before they could climb back up from the ground, Morin and the Saxon soldiers, with bayonets fixed on their rifles, charged upon them like avenging spirits.

“Kill!”

The Saxon soldiers all employed the bayonet fighting techniques Morin had taught them.

In the last moment before reaching the enemy, they did not rush into the bayonet fight, but decisively opened fire, emptying the last bullet in their rifle chambers.

It was highly unconventional, but effective.

“Bang! Bang!”

At such close range, no aiming was necessary.

The two Britannian soldiers responsible for covering the mages were instantly shot down.

Next came the most gruesome sight of bayonets meeting flesh and blood.

The two remaining Britannian soldiers tried to block Morin, who was charging at the front, but Morin, who had entered a state of ‘berserk,’ dispatched the first soldier with a single jab and flick of his bayonet, piercing the soldier’s throat.

Watching his comrade fall, clutching his throat, and the blood pressure-spraying blood splattering on Morin, ‘decorating’ him as a killing machine, the remaining soldier’s will instantly broke.

He screamed and charged with his rifle raised, intending to trade his life for Morin’s, but then suddenly saw the blood-soaked Saxon officer stop.

Then raise his rifle, aim.

“Bang!”

The soldier who fell with a shot to the brow didn’t understand until he died why the man who looked like a berserker would suddenly shoot so calmly.

Morin expressionlessly ejected the spent casing and reloaded. His cold eyes looked at the two Apprentice Mages as if they were already dead, while the other Saxon soldiers sped past him.

The two Apprentice Mages witnessed this scene in a fleeting glance as they looked back. Morin’s gaze intensified the terror on their faces.

These two nobly-born Apprentice Mages of the High-Level Mage Corps had never imagined a day when they would be engaged in close combat by enemy infantry.

In their minds, mages were always elegant and powerful beings, standing protected by a multitude of soldiers, calmly chanting spells, and annihilating swathes of enemies with a wave of a hand.

Not rolling around miserably in mud and blood as they were now.

Faced with the glinting bayonets, they completely panicked.

Their Mage’s Armor had already worn off. In their panic, they only managed to instinctively cast a basic [Mage Hand] to push away the two fastest-charging Saxon soldiers.

But the next moment, the bayonets of Morin and Corporal Bowman were fiercely plunged into their bodies, one from the left and one from the right.

The cold S1898 bayonets easily pierced through the luxurious mage robes and the fragile flesh.

“Ugh…”

One Apprentice Mage looked down in disbelief at the bayonet thrust into his abdomen, a large amount of blood welling up from his mouth.

Morin expressionlessly twisted his rifle, churning the bayonet inside the Apprentice Mage’s body, maximizing the damage to his internal organs.

Corporal Bowman followed suit. Soon, the two arrogant Apprentice Mages took their last breath and slumped to the ground.

The remaining few Britannian soldiers were quickly finished off by the Saxon soldiers.

Pulling out his bayonet, Morin heavily gasped, looking at the carnage all around. He knew they couldn’t stay here long.

Fighting off physical exhaustion, he knelt with his rifle propped on one hand and quickly searched the bodies of the two Apprentice Mages.

He soon found two thick notebooks that looked like spellbooks, as well as several bottles and jars containing unknown liquids and powders.

【’Magic’ entry unlocked, please check in time.】

【Personal Training Manual (Basic) × 2, obtained.】

Although he heard the prompts, Morin had no time to examine them closely, stuffing the items into his satchel all at once.

“Loot the battlefield! See if there are any usable weapons. We have to leave here immediately and regroup with the 3rd Platoon main force!”

Morin stood up and issued the final command to the surviving soldiers.

Not long after, the squad, having just slipped through the gates of hell, quickly disappeared into the broken streets of Seville.

【Saxon Empire Air Force – ‘Zeppelin’ Class Armored Airship – L30】

【Status: Approaching destination】

【Estimated Time of Arrival: 1 hour and 05 minutes】

(End of this Chapter)